The applicant invented a resin molding apparatus in which an elongated release film easily peelable from a molding die set and resin is used. In the resin molding apparatus, the release film, which is wound on a reel, is supplied to a space between a clamping face of an upper die and a clamping face of a lower die, and the release film is sucked. And then, a work is mounted on the clamping face of the lower die together with the release film, the resin is supplied onto the work, a substrate part of the work is clamped by clampers, and the work is compression-molded (see Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2000-277551).
By employing the above described resin molding apparatus, no resin fins are formed in the molding die set and no resin contaminates the clamping faces, so that a molded product can be easily removed from the clamping faces.
In some works, devices are formed close to outer edges of a substrate (e.g., wafer) for mass production.
In this case, the substrate cannot be clamped by, for example, the clampers, so it is difficult to correctly position and set the work in the molding die set. Especially, in case of using the release film, the release film is sucked and held on the clamping face, but the work is merely mounted on the release film. Therefore, the work cannot be correctly positioned and held there, and warpage of the work, which is caused by difference of thermal expansion coefficients between the work and the die, cannot be prevented.
Further, the outer edges of the work are included in a resin molding range, so a contact area between the work and the release film held on the clamping face is large. If the release film is not peeled from the molded product, it is difficult to smoothly take out the molded product from the molding die set.